Shots from Newport

Gingerbread house making, ghost stories on the dock, cliff climbing, lots of jumping and zumba dancing. And of course, copious amounts of hugging.

How was your long weekend?

Tumblr Treats.

...formally known as "a few things on tumblr this week that made me smile."

Just a friendly nautical-themed Octopus.

Julia Stone

Cover of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love."

Clicking the image will take you back to the source.

The Snuggie Man

The following is a poem I wrote for creative writing class approximately one year ago. It's about Snuggies. Enjoy. (PS. I got an A+ for this one).

Snuggie Man

I should have invented the Snuggie.

It’s not like I haven’t wished my blanket had sleeves,

But I was too lazy to do something about it.

And you know someone out there

Has a blanket with sleeves

They made to wear around the house

And now they are kicking themselves

Because there is now a Snuggie millionaire out there

Making Snuggies for himself out of silk and gold.

I guess people haven’t realized yet

A Snuggie is backwards bathrobe.

But at least we aren’t wearing Shamwows.

Kudos to you, Snuggie man.

You have balls.

Quote of the Week

"Do you think I've gone round the bend?"
"I'm afraid so. You're mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."
Lewis Carroll

(image via the other day)

Summer?

Good news!
I made it through my first year of grad school with flying colors :)
It has been the most rewarding year of my life, but I am welcoming summer with open arms.
I am not allowed to post pictures of the kids I worked with for obvious reasons, but I will brag about their cuteness by showing you the beautiful flowers they gave me on my last day. There is also no rule about sharing the cards they made me. The one I posted above is probably one of the highlights of my life.

Here's a list of silly things I'd like to get done today:
1. Treat myself to a manicure
2. Start doing some writing/outlining for my summer job.
3. Transfer summer clothes into my closet (yay!!)
4. Make this lavender crunch hummus. And then I am going to make one of these sandwiches.
5. Enjoy my last day before summer classes start.

I really wish this rain would go away. I am pretty much as pasty white as I was in January.
PS. I will be spending the entire summer in these TOMS.

Elizabeth Bishop

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.


(image via papertissue)

This poem is on my mind today. Not sure why.  Either way, I thought I'd share it.

a few things on tumblr this week that made me smile

I hope this is in a tree house.

These windows would be gorgeous at any time of the day and all seasons of the year.

Think I'm going to make these today...

I may or may not know people that fit the description for many of these cities.

Clicking on the images will take you back to the source.

Breakfast Rice Pudding

I love rice pudding, and I love breakfast.

So why not have rice pudding for breakfast?

How is this rice pudding different from any other rice pudding, you ask?
Well, it's more filling, its healthier, and its sweetness margin is significantly lower.
Meaning, don't expect it to taste like dessert rice pudding.
The flavors are subtle, yet delicious.

These are the things you need:

1 cup arborio rice
1 cup milk (skim or soy is preferable)
cinnamon (as much or as little as you want)
brown sugar (1-2 tablespoons)
vanilla extract(1-2 tablespoons)
1/2 cup almond granola (or any granola you'd like. I used homemade.)
Dried fruit ( I used golden raisins, but dried cranberries could be good.)

Truthfully, you could add anything you want to this pudding to customize for your own enjoyment. You could also play with proportions here. If you want a sweeter rice pudding, then add more sugar, or honey, or maple syrup... you get the idea.

The steps:
Prepare arborio rice as directed (mine said 3 cups water for 1 cup rice).
Once the water has been absorbed into the rice, allow it to sit and cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes.

Then, you add the ingredients listed above and stir it in.

Lastly, put it in a container and let it cool in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, you have delicious rice pudding for breakfast!

The great thing about the arborio rice (this is the rice they use for risotto) is that it is creamy all on its own. There's no need to add any extra cream or anything to get the smooth texture. The one cup of milk will suffice, and if you want to add a little more sweetness, you can always use vanilla soy milk. I just didn't have it on hand.

I can't take credit for this ingenious idea. I recently ordered a copy of Tina Haupert's new book, based on her blog CarrotsN'Cake. It's one of my favorite blogs, and her book has some great recipes!

Peanutty Soba Noodles

I love Asian food of all varieties, particularly noodles (you may find evidence here). On Saturday I picked up some soba noodles at a local health food store and decided I would find a good use for them. I decided to make delicious peanutty noodles! It was so easy. Here's what you do:

Prepare soba noodles as specified on the label.

While the soba is cooking, combine 4 tablespoons of peanut butter, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, and 2 tablespoons each of the following: sesame oil, honey, rice vinegar, sriracha, and soy sauce in a small saucepan on low heat.

Stir. Once the ingredients have combined, pour the sauce into a large bowl.

When soba noodles are done cooking, strain them and run cold water over them. Then let the noodles finish draining before adding them to the bowl with the sauce. Toss ingredients together and let it rest for 20-30 minutes. I would put it in the refrigerator because they taste better cold.

Add sesame seeds as garnish, and then eat! Feel free to include vegetables in this scenario. I just wasn't in the mood to go through the effort. A little crunch would actually make this even better- maybe some carrots or baby corn? Snow peas? Yum!

Check me out, two posts in one day!

Quote of the Week

So I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.
Stephen Chbosky

(image via dirtyprettything)